International Learning Group School (ILG School)
Menu
Action, the core of student agency, is integral to the Primary Years Programme (PYP) learning process and to the programme’s overarching outcome of international-mindedness. Through taking individual and collective action, students come to understand the responsibilities associated with being internationally minded and to appreciate the benefits of working with others for a shared purpose. When students see tangible actions that they can choose to take to make a difference, they see themselves as competent, capable and active agents of change (Oxfam 2015).
Students taking action in response to their units of inquiry lay a foundation for community service in the Middle Years Programme (MYP) and creativity, activity, service (CAS) in the Diploma Programme (DP). Action is a means for students to show that they have linked their learning to real-life issues and opportunities, and that they are developing responsible dispositions and behaviours towards social and physical environments and to the community within and beyond school. Through action, students develop a sense of belonging to local and global communities. They understand and recognize the interconnectedness and interdependence of issues, and consider these from multiple perspectives (Oxfam 2015, UNESCO 2015)
Initiated by students, PYP action is authentic, meaningful, mindful, responsible and responsive. Action could be:
Students exercise agency by making responsible choices; these choices can sometimes include conscious decisions not to act. It may be that students take time to research and reflect upon possible courses of action and decide against taking action because of the connected consequences and potential impact on others (Boix Mansilla, Jackson 2011).
The MYP offers students the opportunity to engage in both the Community Project and the Personal Project, which are known together as MYP Projects. For Schools that have the full scope of MYP (Yr1-5), only the Personal Project in grade 10 is required, and the Community Project in grade 8 is optional. For schools offering only MYP Years 1-3 (gr 6-8), then the Community Project is the grade 8 requirement. ILG is a full MYP school.
The Community Project focuses on community and service, encouraging students to explore their rights and responsibilities for implementing actionable service in the community. The Community Project gives students an opportunity to develop awareness of needs in various communities and to address those needs through service learning. As a consolidation of learning, the Community Project product is the culmination of a sustained, in- depth inquiry which lead to service in the community. The Community Project may be completed individually or by groups with a maximum of three students.
The Personal Project encourages grade 10 students to practise and strengthen their Approaches To Learning (ATL) skills, to consolidate prior and subject-specific learning, and to develop an area of personal interest. The Personal Project provides an excellent opportunity for students to produce a truly personal and often creative product/outcome and to demonstrate a consolidation of their learning in the MYP. The project offers many opportunities for differentiation of learning and expression according to students’ individual needs and choices. The personal nature of the project is important; the project should revolve around a challenge that motivates and interests the individual student. Each student develops their personal project independently.
The ILG School Summer Camp is back! Join us from Monday, 26 June, through Friday, 28 July, from 08:30-15:00. Registration is open to current students, new students, and children that do not attend ILG School from ages 2-16. (Early Years 1 – Grade 11 for the 2023-2024 school year.) We look forward to welcoming you for a summer of fun!